The Truth About Loyalty
by englishrose07
Summary: Lily Potter hates Tom, the mysterious Slytherin...or does she? The war has been over for more than 25 years, but house prejudices are suddenly brought to the surface. Tensions rise and everything falls apart in ways no one could have imagined. Can it b
1. My Family and Other Animals

If any other girl had been in Lily Potter's place at that moment, they might have died of excitement. The 16-year-old entered King's Cross Station flanked by two tall young men. The younger, in particular, drew attention for his resemblance to the green-eyed man who followed the trio with an arm wrapped around the waist of his red-headed wife. But Lily seemed unfazed by this impressive entourage, but then again it was considered slightly strange to idolize your own family. She left that to her parents' adoring former classmates.

She felt a hand come down on her head, ruffling her fiery hair.

"James! Get off!"

Her elder brother hastily withdrew his hand, grinning at her as she attempted to swat at him and keep the trolley under control. With mocking good humor, he tapped his scowling sister's cheek. "Can you believe it, Al? Our lovely little sister's going to be a sixth year!"

Albus laughed softly from Lily's other side, looking half-wistfully, half-smugly towards the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. "Merlin, it feels strange to not be going back this year."

"Well, little brother, you could," chuckled James. "In fact, the Auror office would be pretty relieved if you didn't turn up."

"This is coming from the seeker who was benched his whole first season for the Cannons because he was caught trying to chat up the manager's daughter."

Lily grinned affectionately up at her brothers, remembering the days when James's teasing used to upset Albus, rather than amuse him. "Well, if I have such big, strong men for brothers, why aren't they pushing my trolley?" Albus and James looked at each other skeptically, then…

"We're far too old and mature to be pushing a Hogwarts trolley…" sniffed Albus.

"It might ruin our reputations," added James. "Well, Albus doesn't have much of a rep to lose."

Albus ignored him. "But for our darling sister, we are prepared to take the risk." As one, the boys snatched the trolley out of Lily's hands and raced full pelt towards the barrier. Grinning, Lily dropped back to her parents, wedging herself between them and linking arms. Using his free hand, Harry gently tugged a strand of her hair. Lily pretended to scowl at him as her mother attempted to smooth the ruffled mass.

"What is it with our family and touching my hair?"

Harry glanced affectionately at his wife. "You have your mother's hair."

Lily faked a look of shock. "No, definitely never heard that one before. I wonder why we have the same hair…maybe because we're _related_?"

Her dad's luminous green eyes twinkled at her. "I'm your father, and you don't have my hair. Unless there's something your mother's been keeping from me…"

Ginny reached across Lily to cuff Harry over the head, though she couldn't help laughing. Turning back to her daughter, she added, "For some reason, he found my hair fascinating when we were dating."

"And then she cut it," sighed Harry, dramatically raising his eyes to the ceiling. "How's that for wifely affection?"

Ginny's face changed to an expression dubbed "Granny's look" by her children. Catching her eye, Harry recoiled almost instinctively. "22 years of marriage and you're accusing me of lacking affection?"

"I'm regretting it now," laughed Harry. Lily quickly slid out from between her parents in case they forgot their "no PDA in public" rule. Her disappearance seemed to bring her parents back to Earth, and they stopped grinning at each other foolishly.

"Excited for sixth year, Lily?" asked Ginny.

"I'm glad OWL's are over." Lily shuddered. "Then again, now we start preparing for NEWT's."

"Don't forget about Quidditch," interjected Harry.

As they slid through the barrier, Lily heard someone call her name. Her cousin Hugo appeared beside her, making her jump.

"I just saw Al and James nearly run into Uncle Perce with a trolley. Was it yours?"

Lily smacked her forehead. "The idiots."

"I dunno," grinned Hugo. "It was bloody funny actually. He was furious though. Thank Merlin's knickers he didn't see me laughing or I'd probably have lost my badge…except I'm not the prefect."

"Why am I always the one who gets the stick for becoming prefect? You didn't tease Rose about being Head Girl last year."

"She deserved it, didn't she?"

"Sod off," muttered Lily, though her smile didn't falter. "You know you would've got it if you hadn't helped Albus release those pixies in the Slytherin common room last year. You could always try to go for Quidditch captain, though."

"Nah, Howard's still got it, and I'm fine with that actually. I have enough of a hard time trying to keep the Bludgers away from you to think about tactics!"

"Even so, you'd be better at writing plays than Howard, or at least less biased about shooting opportunities," grumbled Lily.

"And since when have you listened to Howard's plays?" asked Hugo, quickly stifling his laughter as a booming voice called "Oi! Potter! How's your left-handed throw going?"

"Fine, Howard," called Lily as the muscular boy strode past. She set off with Hugo behind her. "Damn, I haven't practiced my left in ages. I need to ask Wood if he'll do extra practice with me."

"Didn't you practice when Damien, Oliver and Katie came to visit in the summer?" asked Hugo, steering Lily onto the train.

"Not one-on-one with just a keeper. There were so many people playing that I forgot to ask."

"I would have practiced with you."

"Hugo, you're a beater."

"Are you saying I'm not tall enough to block a few hoops?!"

Lily looked up at his slightly indignant expression. Though she was a tall girl, Hugo loomed over her.

"Hey Lily!" A blonde girl had stuck her head through the carriage doorway. "Aren't you forgetting something? Here's two very good-looking hoodlums outside who claim you forced them to take your trunk."

"Just tell them to stop being lazy and bring it in," called Lily. A few seconds later her friend fully appeared on the train, and was forced to fling herself into the nearest compartment as Lily's trunk zoomed down the corridor. James and Albus appeared, smugly holding their wands aloft. Wordlessly, Lily pointed to an empty compartment.

"Merlin, Lily, you're treating us like house elves." Lily rolled her eyes as Albus eased the trunk onto the compartment's rack with a casual flick of his wrist.

"Hello, Vanessa. How was your summer?" asked James as he turned around.

"You saw me three days ago, you prat," exclaimed Vanessa as she emerged from the next-door compartment, hastily apologizing to the terrified first years inside.

"What did you do to them Vanessa?" asked James innocently. "Do an impression of a Grim?"

"No, _Potter_, I was avoiding being killed by a levitating trunk," sniffed Vanessa, checking herself for damages.

"Sorry Vanessa," said Albus. "Would you have preferred us to send it through the window?" As Vanessa tried to decide whether to ignore him or not, James's eyes lit up.

"We can try that with _your_ trunk!"

"Not unless you want a good kick up the rear," Vanessa half-snarled.

"Well, if that's the case, we'll be going," said James. Kissing Lily on the cheek, and winking at Vanessa, he hopped off the train. Albus hesitated for a moment, then Hugo nudged Lily. "I think your parents are waiting to say goodbye."

"See you at Christmas, Al." Lily hugged him and followed James off the train.

"Bye Mum, bye Dad." Lily kissed both of her parents and hugged them.

"Keep writing to us," said Ginny.

"Of course, Mum."

The train whistle sounded and Hugo pulled Lily back onto the train. They both leaned out the window as Lily's parents are brothers gathered with her aunt, uncle, and cousin Rose to wave goodbye. Vanessa appeared looking slightly flustered.

"Lily dear, don't you have a prefect's meeting to go to?"

"Right. Thanks, Vanessa. See you two later."

* * *

An hour later, Lily burst out of the prefects' carriage, her ears ringing with the Head Girl's nasal voice. Merlin, Rose had been so much better last year. She groaned as the dreaded voice floated out of the open compartment door, "And don't forget, Potter, you have to patrol the corridors in half an hour!" Lily pulled out her wand to perform the silencing charm her brothers so often used on her, but then thought better of it and stuffed the piece of wood back into her jacket pocket and continued down the train. When she got to her compartment, it was deserted. Checking the nearby compartments, she guessed that the absence of older students meant that the food cart was at the other end of the train. Pulling her jacket off, she stuck it in her trunk and plunked herself down on one of the seats. A few minutes later, a dark-skinned girl with luminous sapphire-blue eyes opened the compartment door.

"Hi Lily. Do you mind if we join you?"

Lily smiled at her fifth year friend. "Stella, considering you were living in our house a couple weeks ago, it would be hypocritical to object to you sharing a compartment with me. And if 'we' means Damien, then both of you are very welcome!"

Damien appeared behind his girlfriend. "Someone say my name?"

"Hey Wood, could I practice some left-handed shots with you sometime this week before Howard calls practices? Our darling captain seems to think I've been working on my left arm all summer."

"Sure," said Damien, sliding into the seat next to Stella.

"How's your dad enjoying retirement?" asked Lily.

"He misses playing so often, but I think he likes the rest." Damien replied, though he kept his eyes on the curl of Stella's hair that he was wrapping around his finger. "Bit of a contradiction really. Most of the time he's supposed to be resting, he's coaching me instead."

Lily chuckled. "Well, I'm going to check up on the food cart and find out where Vanessa and Hugo went." Even though it was her compartment, she was getting the feeling that she was invading Damien and Stella's privacy. Outside the compartment, she set off towards the rear of the train. She had nearly reached the door to the next carriage, when someone forcefully brushed past her, knocking her off balance.

"Wha – " Lily broke off, scowling as she recognized the boy. "Watch where you're going next time, Smith," she snarled.

The dark haired boy turned back, his lip curling in a sneer. "Oh, I was."

Lily reached into the back pocket of her jeans for her wand…and found nothing.  
Frantically, she remembered putting her jacket in her trunk.

"Did you lose your wand, Potter?"

Lily opened her mouth to answer, but was saved as the carriage door opened and Vanessa appeared.

"Lily?" Vanessa looked confused, then she noticed the boy. Without even acknowledging his presence, she took Lily by the arm and pulled her away down the corridor.


	2. Boys, Brothers and Quidditch

"I love school!" Lily's head shot up from its previous position inches above her plate to stare at her cousin, who was clutching a bread roll in one hand and spooning peas into his mouth with the other. "What?" he asked, in response to her incredulous expression. "The food's good!"

Vanessa's chuckle quickly changed to a grimace as she pulled a half-chewed pea out of her hair, pulling her napkin off her lap to use as a barrier to protect herself from Hugo. Lily grinned at Hugo's offended expression, and took advantage of her friend's occupied hands to poke her in the waist, her most ticklish spot. Gasping, Vanessa doubled over, nearly knocking over her glass of pumpkin juice with her elbow. Giggling, she attempted to return the favor, but Lily had snatched up her now-clean plate to use as her own shield. Vanessa's frustrated sigh quickly vanished as the desserts appeared on the table and she deftly snatched the biggest wedge of treacle tart out from under Hugo's fingers.

Hugo's grumbles only subsided as Headmistress McGonagall was slowly helped to her feet. Lily watched the frail woman with interest as she raised a hand for silence. The eyes were no less piercing, even from afar, but McGonagall was no longer the imposing figure that her parents reminisced about. Nevertheless, the Great Hall became quiet almost immediately.

"Welcome to a new school year. I trust all of you have had _productive_ holidays and are ready to leap back into the fold." McGonagall's eyes swept the hall, as if daring anyone to confess that they had done nothing all summer. Lily noticed a particularly guilty-looking third-year who looked about ready to pass out from embarrassment. She caught the girl's eye and tried to give her a reassuring smile, but only caused her panicked expression to increase. Puzzled, Lily realized that her Prefect badge was probably a little off-putting. Her gaze moved past the poor girl and landed on the Slytherin table. Smith was apparently listening to McGonagall, though a look of boredom was obvious in his face. Suddenly, his head turned and his dark eyes met Lily's. Lily expected him to sneer and look away, but instead he held her gaze. Finally, she looked away, furious at the blush that was blooming on her cheeks, and attempted to pay attention to McGonagall. But McGonagall had sat down and sound of scraping benches was filling the hall.

"Hello…Ms. Prefect…Lily! Wake up!" Lily registered her friend's hand waving in front of her face. Jumping to her feet, Lily searched for the line of frightened first years, but they seemed to have disappeared. Seizing Vanessa's hand, she dragged her through the doors and up the packed staircase, slowing down only once they were safe in a hidden passage on the second floor.

"Lily, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," said Lily. "Absolutely nothing."

* * *

_Dear Lily,_

_How's your first couple of weeks back been? I bet you 300 galleons that all the teachers have given you the whole "Now that your OWL's are over, you need to start killing yourselves for your NEWT's" speech. Send your reply pronto because I need the money! _

_Auror training is hell, and I'm loving every minute of it. The Aurors do not approve of "hand-holding"; their methods are more similar to chucking you off a cliff and expecting you to know how to fly. Now, with a broom of course, that wouldn't be so hard…but instead of trying to go into more detail to make my metaphor actually work, I'm just going to beg that you don't pick it apart. _

_James wants me to pass on the message that he won't be writing for a while as he's off for a month of "intense training", or something that was supposed to sound very impressive. Supposedly all contact with the opposite gender is forbidden in this time period to help them focus, so that somehow includes you, even though I would be puking for days if James confessed a romantic interest in you (Merlin, my brain is shriveling up at the thought!) To be honest, I think he's just lazy, but at least he gave an excuse for the crap lack of communication you'll be getting for the next few weeks. _

_When's your first Hogsmeade weekend? If I can get time off, I'll try to briefly come up and visit. Until then, try to keep your reputation and all limbs intact (I'm just teasing you, don't curse me!)_

_Your caring and communicative (James!) elder bro,_

_Albus_

* * *

_Ok, pass the Quaffle to the right, swerve left around the defender, catch the Quaffle and SCORE!_ Lily's mental mantra was interrupted by the whoop issuing from her own mouth as she watched her shot soar past Damien Wood's outstretched hands. Slapping high fives with Jamie, her fellow chaser, she zoomed up towards the darkening sky into a loop-the-loop. Maybe with that goal, Howard would finally end practice…

"Potter!"

Damn. Lily halted upside down and looked confusedly down into her captain's irritated face. "Yes?"

"When your defender's on your right, you have to shoot with your _left_! That's the whole point of the play! If you just wimp out and use your right arm, it's easier to snatch the ball away. And for God's sake, stop hanging upside down like a gorilla!"

Slightly shamefacedly, Lily swung right-side-up in time to hear Jack say, "I didn't know gorillas could hang upside down, Captain."

"Well, you learn something new everyday," muttered Howard.

"Actually, Howard, I think you're trying to refer to an orangutan, not a gorilla. Or maybe a sloth, they spend almost all their time upside down".

"I don't give a damn whether ruddy gorillas hang upside down; this has nothing to do with Quidditch!" Howard roared at Jamie, whose mildly amused expression didn't slip.

"But Captain," trilled Julie, innocently twirling her beater's bat, "how do you expect us to understand what you are talking about if you don't use your words properly?"

Howard seemed to be suppressing a strong urge to smack himself in the forehead. "Fine, I give up! If you want to slack off, let's just end practice now." He looked up expectantly, but immediately sighed in irritation as he saw his entire team speeding towards the ground. "And reverse psychology is supposed to work…." Muttering to himself, he sank towards his dismounting team.

"Slackers!" exclaimed Julie in the locker room. "We'd been practicing for four hours. What does he think we are, raving mad lunatics?"

"Took you long enough to figure that one out," joked Lily as she emerged from the showers. Julie was only a third year and it was her first year off the reserves, but she was by no means intimidated by their blustering captain. Lily enjoyed her for this, especially as she and Julie were the only girls on the team. The younger girl's half-amused, half-exasperated expression was clear, even though it was upside down as she bent over, rubbing her hair with a towel.

"Well you certainly developed your strategy a lot faster than most of us did," remarked Lily with a grin. "Confusing him always works. Evan, who was on the team last year, decided to be an idiot and yell back at him; needless to say, that wasn't very successful."

Julie chuckled. "I remember how frustrated he got at the tryouts during the scrimmage, when Howard discounted every goal he scored...and every time Howard came up with a rule that Evan had violated."

Lily gave a wry smile. "That's probably the only time I've seen Howard act blatantly unfairly. He's a good guy, just really obsessed about Quidditch and he doesn't understand why everyone else doesn't live and breathe it too."

"We're going start our morning practice on Saturday a ½ hour earlier than normal to get in more drill time!" Howard's voice came floating through the door from outside the locker room. Lily groaned, turning to Julie.

"Remember what I said about him being a good guy? Forget it."


End file.
